The national PTA is advocating to receive 5 Billion dollars from the federal government and predicts doom and gloom if they don't receive it. In reply to an email they sent out today, I sent this email to the national PTA.

Re: Stop Sequestration ( http://www.pta.org/5382.asp )

I'm a husband of an elementary school teacher, and a father of four kids who are in K-12 schools. I've experienced about 9 different schools, a dozen principals or administrators, dozens of teachers in schools in 2 states in places as different as California and Utah. My wife teaches 2nd grade at a normal public school, but has also taught 6th grade, home school, preschool, and has been a Parent Organization president at a charter school. We've had our kids in schools where our kids were minorities and schools where they were not. They've been in Title 1 schools, a charter school, home school and are all currently in normal public school, have been for 3 years and probably will until they all graduate. We have schools in our district, and have lived in districts where the majority of kids have only one parent or who are being raised by a grandparent because both parents aren't around or are in jail. We've seen curriculum from the school district, from the state, common core, online, offline, etc. We've seen the spectrum of what schools have to offer; but shockingly there are similarities in them all. In every school and following every curriculum type, there are still kids who excel, some who float along with the masses, and some who 'fail'.

What is the one common factor that plays the largest role in the educational success of the students? It isn't the teachers, although we've seen some great, and some not so good teachers, in every school and school type. It isn't the type of school or the method of instruction. It isn't the class size. It isn't even only about economics, although that can be an indicator of the real problem.

The parents are the real problem and the real answer, the elephant in the room that is never discussed when the conversation turns to why 'education' is failing. It isn't education that is failing, it is the parents.

America is way too in debt, it is a bad idea to seek 5 Billion dollars from the federal government for schools. A fundamental shift in perspective needs to take place in our nation in order for there to be any money for anything. It isn't the nation's job to educate its children, it is the parent's responsibility. I'm not talking about home schooling, I'm talking about taking responsibility.
The P in PTA still stands for parents. Please don't take away my parental responsibility and try to give it to the government.

Of course we need teachers who take up the responsibility to educate when that trust is placed in them. That trust comes from the parents, not from the government. We need excellent teachers, but it is an unrealistic task for even a good teacher to always overcome a home environment that deters or even impedes a child's education. For a teacher to overcome every child's poor upbringing is impossible. You can't legislate desire by force.

We need teachers, principals, districts, boards and the nation as a whole to recognize and promote that children's schooling is primarily a parental responsibility. Parents need to be held partially accountable for their kids' performance. Good teachers want the parents to be involved. Excellent teachers help parents be involved, and think of a bigger picture than just the curriculum they are supposed to teach. The best teachers know that teaching math and reading is only a small part of how to change lives for the better, and that there are more lives that can be improved than just the kids in their class that year; they think of the future, and help parents know how best to help their children to learn going forward. The teachers are in the trenches; they see what the children need, but far too often they see that there isn't much they or any other teacher will be able to do. They can sometimes already predict in Kindergarten and 1st grade which kids will likely drop out of school, or who are likely to become teen mothers. The teachers see and experience it all, and if they were allowed or expected to, they could help parents know what to do to make a difference.

Merit pay is most likely coming to a school district near you; it is already being tested and legislated in various forms all around the country. But it is being implemented poorly in most circumstances because it is not the teacher's fault when a kid can't learn all that is legislated for them to learn; more frequently there are kids who won't learn, simply because they don't want to or sometimes because they don't have the support they need at home. Kids need more than one model (the teacher) of success, educators should push parents to be role models in their own homes. Parents should be given a report card; school PTAs could perhaps find ways to reward parents and their kids if the parents have a good report card. If a teacher isn't modeling success, they should be held accountable, but if the parents aren't modeling success, why are they not being held accountable, when it is truly their involvement that is the largest factor in the child's success? How likely is it for the child to even know they can become successful if it isn't modeled to them and explained to them? Teachers and parents should both be expected to be the example.

In what mentality is it fine for teachers to be required to spend more time with the kids than the parents do, but it isn't fine for teachers to require something from the parents? With responsibility comes privileges, without responsibility there are no privileges. Parents cannot abdicate their responsibility to teachers, and then blame the teacher without again taking the responsibility back to themselves. Parents can't choose when they will have responsibility and when they won't, and still always expect the privileges of being a parent. Of course I'm not arguing for less parental privileges, I'm saying parents should expect to have final responsibility. Parents realize deep down they are responsible for their children. When they perceive something wrong at the school, they take charge and demand what is theirs. If parents can demand what is theirs, it needs to be clear that the responsibility is theirs, and that the teacher is there to help them, not the other way around.

Teacher merit pay formulas need to take individual students' history and performance into account, along with how involved their parents are in their education. To completely blame the teacher is wrong, but they should be held accountable if the students and parents also are. Alternatively, if merit pay is about rewarding good teachers, don't reward them just because they are lucky enough to work at a school where the kids have involved parents, while another teacher works a much harder job to literally raise the kids in their low-income school where the majority of the parents are not involved. The teacher that has to give breakfast, lunch and dinner to the kids is no longer the teacher, they are basically the parent, but without any of the rights. Think how unreasonable it is to expect someone to parent 20 kids who are all the same age! Teaching a curriculum to dozens of kids is doable, but teachers have been filling in the gap and doing much more than that.

Parents should be invested in their kids education, they should step up and get their local community and governments to do something about it.
Since there are many localities where the parents have almost completely abdicated their responsibility, then the local school boards and the states should figure out how to help the parents take the responsibility back. It would be more effective to pay an additional teacher to teach the parents in a school district how to help their kids than it would be to hire ten teachers to teach the kids of the failing parents.

Getting more money from the federal government will only perpetuate the problem of kids having lesser desire to be educated than in times past. To truly care for the kids, and to help government to have money at all for education, help build a country where our children's future isn't enslaved to debt.

Kids will be more driven to learn when they are driven to want to work hard. How can you teach a kid to want to work hard? By showing them an example of how it makes their life better, by loving them no matter what, and by helping them see that life is hard, but they have the ability to make a difference for themselves and for those around them. They will only be driven to want to work hard when they know that it is expected of them, and they see how it will benefit them.

These things aren't taught in any school subjects I know of; they should be taught by the parents, but if they aren't, the school should focus on helping the children become future parents who will take responsibility.

Please focus on different solutions to help students and their families, don't look for money from the federal government, or from any government for that matter, as the solution to fixing education. Every 'little' 5 Billion dollars here and there is what is driving our country into financial ruin. The fall will be a lot harder in the future if everyone doesn't take responsibility now. If larger class sizes are inevitable, find a way to engage parents to make up the difference. Be an advocate for the future of the children by being an advocate for parents and families and the solidarity of our nation.

Ask not what federal money can be given to you, ask what you can do to lighten the government's burden.

Remember the P in PTA, and put responsibility where it ultimately is due.

Glow Brightly bedtime song

My 7-year-old daughter spontaneously came up with another bedtime song that I want to write down before I forget. I'm sure she'll like it if I remember it and sing it to her again...

Goodnight fireflies! Close your eyes.

Glow brightly. Glow brightly.

While you sleep the stars will shine.

Glow brightly. Glow brightly.

Actually, I came up the second part to match the first right after she sang it.

The melody goes like this:
Mi Sol Mi Do, Mi Sol Mi -
Re Mi Fa, Mi Fa Sol.

Mi Sol Mi Do, Mi Sol Mi -
Re Mi Fa, Mi Re Do.

I think I'll try to come up with another verse now...

Heaven's close now. Close your eyes.

Let your heart glow brightly.

Sing your praises to the skies!

Glow brightly! Glow brightly.

At first I wasn't sure whether it should say "Pray for hope now", or "Heaven's close now." Michelle like it better with "Heaven's close" and I think I like that better too.

Like with my other songs on this blog, feel free to use this, but if you ever write it down or use it, you need to give credit to me and my daughter. Let me know if you like it or use it in a public venue or want to try to make money with it, since it is after all copyright Daniel Lee Gibby, November 2008.

:)

Save the Cursor People!

Careful, if you read this, then you'll know, and you'll be afraid to not join one side or the other...
If you are the non-committal (guenzo!) type, then you should try reading something else so that you can remain blissfully unaware.

I don't think my sister realized the implications of what you are about to read when she forwarded me a link to something that she assumed was something comical:

Subject: What moves the cursor?

What moves the cursor on your monitor when you move your mouse?
Haven't you ever wondered how it works?

Now, through the miracle of high technology, we can see how it is done. With the aid of a screen magnifying lens, the mechanism becomes apparent.

Click on the link below and you will find out. The image may take a minute or two to download and when it appears, slowly move your mouse over the light gray circle and you will see how the magic works.

Follow this link and find out the truth.

http://www.1-click.jp/

A word of advice let them rest once in a while.

If you haven't clicked the link above yet, you must do that before reading on!


To think that I lead music with my mouse sometimes for no reason while waiting for web pages to load. That has got to be a lot of dizzying work for nothing.

I'm ashamed of myself. I thought I knew what was going on behind the scenes; that there was a bunch of over-complicated software to supposedly keep the display of the cursor in sync with the movement of the mouse. It was supposedly a better way of doing it that it had been back in the days where the display was actually exactly tied to the mouse movement, which would mean your mouse could always move even if almost every thing else was locked up... but I guess either way was all a cover-up for cheap labor. The slavers probably switched their explanation of how it worked when the slaves started getting tired too often and not performing their duty quickly enough to look like it was exactly in sync. Maybe that happened when the slave force started getting older and when monitors started getting bigger. They probably could all keep up when they were 14-18 years old on a 640x480 screen. But you can see now that they are mostly becoming middle aged, and we make them run 4-10 times as far all the time!

Those poor guys! Just imagine the millions of slaves that are working all over the world. We need to re-evaluate our humanity! There are probably more individuals living that horrible life than there are of people who live outside of monitors. And lately we've been taking more and more of their space by converting to flat screen monitors. Where they used to have room for apartments projects, now they probably just have to sleep in between the pixels in the alleys. And who is behind all of this? Either someone is breeding tiny men or else they have found a place to enslave them, reduce their size and lock them away in each new monitor manufactured.

What happens to them when we finally throw away the monitor? Do they escape, or are they out of work: jailed away where they will starve to death? Maybe that is the real movement behind recycling! The people making money off of this slave labor want to collect the slaves out of the monitors because it is cheaper than getting more. Plus, if the slaves do escape or are left somewhere 'un-recycled' in a place where they might talk, word could get out, and then who knows what could happen. Plus, they could become organized and figure out a way to overcome their captors. I'm sure they would treat all of us large people the same, no matter whether we were the ones who originally enslaved them or not. This really explains viruses a lot better as well. I thought that there wouldn't be anyone stupid enough to write a virus to do it out of fun, well now I see that viruses are part of the liberty movement, and we ought to let them spread. When you look at a virus email, if some of the little men can read your email (most can't read because they were enslaved young) they get excited and start rebelling, messing up all sorts of things in your computer. Then they figure out a way to spread the message to others and pass the message of liberty along.

Be prepared for a revolution the size of which you had never seen, and mostly can't see.

Ethan's Baptism

Here's what I told my boss about this week, so it is kind of just a rough outline of what has taken place during the last seven days or so.

I had mentioned I was pretty tired from the last two crazy days, and he asked what was tiring, so I said:

The tiring part comes from yesterday having a birthday party with twelve 8-year-olds, the ducts on our house cleaned (meaning I had to move bookshelves full of books and an entertainment center for access to them), and since new flooring was put in in our kitchen while we were on vacation I needed to put the fridge and stove back, plus install a new toilet - all yesterday. Then today was my son's baptism and another accompanying party to get ready for, and the house had to be really clean for today (after the party and floor and ducts being cleaned) because Michelle's grandma flew in from Long Beach. All that right after coming back from a vacation and driving a total of 16 hours (including the drive time during the vacation around Las Vegas). Oh, and we had another party / family gathering at my sister's house last night, and another gathering Sunday morning early for another sister's baby blessing, besides our own church services (where my wife taught an hour lesson and gave Easter gifts to the girls in the young women group where she is the music chairperson, and I played the organ for the main meeting with just an hour or two's notice.)

Now we are done with everything, but I am a bit tired! It has been nice actually, filled with a lot more joys than frustrations, but I think we could have spread out some of the things that happened a bit more... well at least the ducts being cleaned. Still, things ran very well, and I only had to leave work early two days, and then plan on working more later at night, like last night, and then what I was planning tonight, so I am really happy with how it turned out.

However, what I really wanted to write about was how wonderful some of the experiences were with Ethan preparing and being baptized and confirmed. I got pretty choked up a few times during the actual service, but the time leading up to Ethan's baptism was rewarding as well. I was very impressed by the way that Ethan gave a prayer last night on his birthday at our family home evening at the Biddulph's house. Ethan spoke using wording and tone that was much higher than I had heard him pray before. It appears that he has been really paying attention during prayers.

I'm so proud of him for reading the whole Book of Mormon before he turned eight. That just amazes me. I hope that will give him a good foundation of knowing that he is able to accomplish many things as long as he sets his mind to it. I also hope that he enjoyed what he learned, and that it gives him a strong base for continual gospel learning.

Related to the actual baptismal service and confirmation, I wanted to make sure and write down the things I remember so that Ethan can have something to help jog his memory about his baptism day.

I remember Ethan being very excited before the baptism and jumping around a bit with his cousin Sabrina, who was also baptized just after Ethan.

Ethan asked to practice how he would bend back under the water. We had practiced at home already a few times, but Ethan wanted to be sure to do it right.

I remember feeling grateful and having the impact of what was about to happen hit me again when Ethan's Aunt Malauna gave the opening prayer for the service. I got weepy eyed and had to wipe my eyes dry during the prayer. (Ethan had asked Aunt Malauna to give the prayer.)

Ethan and I waited to one side of the baptismal font for a minute or so while someone kept trying to unlock the doors for everyone to see. We dry-practiced laying him under the water while we waited, and I talked with him about how many of the kids out there who would be watching are just like Ethan was in previous times when he looked up to other kids being baptized.

The water was a little cold, but not too cold. It came up to about the middle of my thigh, about a foot below the high point where it could have been, but it was plenty enough for Ethan to easily go under the water. I went in first, then Ethan came down the steps holding the railing, even though I had my hand out for him to come to me. He grabbed my hand while he was still on the last step, and then he was baptized.

I don't remember anyone by name who was watching when we were in the water, except for the two witnesses: Robert Ralph Gibby and Lawrence Edward Presser, both of Ethan's grandpas. Uncle Ryan said that they both gave a thumbs up after Ethan was baptized. I know I made sure to look to them to make sure it had been done properly.

I remember Ethan did a good job of keeping his legs down under the water, even though I didn't try and hold them down. Ethan mentioned that he heard quite a few little kids who were watching talk about the water and how they wanted to get in.

Ethan and I watched from the side as Sabrina was baptized. I got a white towel so Ethan had a towel over his head and started to get a little cold, but I think he was glad to get to go first so Sabrina wouldn't be cold if she were to have watched him instead.

I remember that Ethan said that he felt really good or really clean just after he was baptized when we were going to change our clothes. He was also a good sport about the fact that we had forgot to pack him an extra set of underwear, and no belt, so Uncle Ryan borrowed a leather braided belt to Ethan that we wrapped more than one and a half times around him to make sure his new suit pants stay up. (His pants are wide enough to fit him for two more years, but that he will probably outgrow in the legs in six months.) We probably took a little too long getting dressed, but that always seems the way of things.

When we got back to the Relief Society room where Ethan and Sabrina were to be confirmed, Grandpa Gibby gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, emphasizing that he is a special, pure and sacred member of the Godhead, that it is a very special thing for us to have the gift to be able to have him with us, that he is a comforter (which Grandpa showed symbolically by giving a white comforter blanket to Ethan and Sabrina which Grandma had made), and that he can speak to us to warn us if we listen and try to stay close to him. Grandpa related how his Uncle Grant had a near crash in an airplane, but had been saved because the Spirit had whispered to him that he was taking off right into the path of a landing plane.

The things I remember about what was said in the blessing that Ethan received after he was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and told to receive the Holy Ghost are that he will continue to grow in spirit and that his testimony will be strong if he seeks to be close to the Spirit. Also, I was very emotional when I was prompted to tell Ethan that Satan will tempt him. I'm not sure that I voiced all that I felt related to that. I think my emotions and tears may have portrayed through the Spirit what was felt more than my words. I felt like saying something similar to 'Satan desires you' or 'You will have some hard trials', but what I ended up saying was that Satan would tempt him, but that he could overcome if he stayed close to the Spirit through prayer, scripture study, and by listening to the counsel of those who loved him or of those who love him and who also are close to the Spirit.

What I remember most from Sabrina's blessing was that Ryan said that this time in the world is a troubling but also a wonderful time to live.

I hope that these things I've written can help Ethan or those who are close to him throughout his life.

Kallise is born!

Michelle had a baby girl this afternoon (April 11th).
She will be named Kallise.



Michelle was induced today around 9:00am and had her easiest labor out of the four.
Kallise was 20 and a half inches, and seven pounds one ounce.
She scored a perfect 10 on her two Apgar scores, which means that she appears to be a healthy little girl.
What is Apgar?

Kallise is a different spelling, but the same pronunciation for her Grandma Marie's maiden name, which in Germany was spelled Kallis, but was changed to Colles at Ellis Island.

If all goes well, Michelle and Kallise will be coming home on Thursday.
Ethan, Hailee and Jaron are happy to have a baby sister and Mom and Dad are glad things turned out so well.

Zelda freaks - on the SNES!

When I was a kid, I always wished that I had the cool toys that the neighbors had. I especially wished that I had an Atari, and then a Nintendo, and then a Super NES, but I had to just go over to their house and watch them play. Sometimes, if I was lucky, I would get a turn playing something.

Soon after I got married, we bought a stereo, a Super NES and some other electronics for like $100 from a friend who goes through new technology like water in a sieve.
That same game system has lasted us 7 years and we haven't gotten anything 'better'.

We started out with only Donkey Kong Country, Toy Story and Animaniacs. The system came with DK Country. Our friend bought Toy Story, which is an OK game to play, but it seems like it was cobbled together quickly before the release of the movie by 3 different development teams and one guy stuck it together without music between levels and NO ending music. It just basically says "Thanks for Playing!" Kinda lame.

We have occasionally went out and got 'new' games, which are really used games that work just fine. They end up being anywhere between one dollar and 10 dollars. Compare that with the price you normally pay: $20 if you are lucky to $60 plus.

For Christmas, we got a few 'new' games, and I was excited to see that my wife had found "Zelda, A Link to the Past", since it is one of the best games of all time.

My son wasn't all that excited at first because he didn't know what it was like, but soon we found ourselves stuck in Zelda's world. I wanted to conquer the game as fast as I could, and so did my son. Since there are three available save game slots, we had three players: me, my son, and my wife.

I soon discovered that it takes forever to get through some of the secrets of the game unless you get help. It sucks away enough time to just play it already knowing what you are doing. I can't imagine playing the game and not having help available online. Instead of calling the help 'Cheats', we just call it help, because we don't want to promote the fact that cheating is OK. Getting help from others is an important thing to learn in life, though... especially if you are doing something that you aren't that good at, you can get it done better and more quickly if you have help.

Anyway, a few sites became my lifeline, especially GameSpy and RPG Classics; then I help the rest of the family through all the dungeons and secrets. My son caught on quick. He soon was thinking about Zelda day and night. We took a break to go to my brother's house in Idaho, and luckily no-one had a problem with doing something else for a while. I guess we weren't SO addicted to the game that we couldn't take a 3-day break.

Anyway, after around a month of playing, and in 89 tries, I finally won the game.



My son completed his game a day later in 131 games; my wife is still working on hers about once every other week, so she should be done in about a year.

The Sun Shines on the World

I just made up this little song for my daughter when she requested the song: sunbeam.

The sun shines down on all the world.
It shines upon each boy and girl.
They play and run and jump and sing,
Because the sun lights everything.

It goes so slowly through the sky,
While all the clouds go floating by.
The birds fly way up high because
The sun shines on the world.

Here is the music for it:
The first note in each line is below Do, the rest is above Do.

So Do So Fa So Do So Fa
So Do So Fa Re Do So Fa
La Re La So Mi Re La So
So Do So Fa Re Do So Fa

So Do So Fa Re Do So Fa
So Do So Fa Re Do So Fa
La Re La So Me Re La So
So Do So Fa So Do

The rhythm goes:
fast-slow fast-slow fast-slow fast-slow in 6/8 time... kind of like you might think of a slow heart-beat.
In other words an eighth note (as a pickup note) and then a dotted quarter note and then the same thing over and over again.

This music and lyrics are copyright 2006 Daniel Gibby. I just wrote it tonight and have published this blog tonight on the night that I wrote it (February 4th, 2006). I also have four witnesses that I just wrote it ad lib for my daughter so I can prove it.
Nevertheless, even if you don't give me credit, you can sing it to put your kids to bed whenever you want. It seemed to really do the trick tonight. I just don't want anyone making money off it unless they contact me.

As I sang it very slowly and did some hand actions to show the sun, kids, clouds and birds, the very simple melody and slow beauty of singing about things in a kid's world seemed to make my kids really think about the beautiful world and had a very calming effect. I wouldn't sing it any faster than two beats per second.

Hope you like it!

Cookie Cat in Heat after surgery!

You would think that after living mostly in our basement for 6 months that a cat would figure out everything there is about its environment. Well, don't be so sure!

Here is some fantastic and incredible news! About one month after my cat went through surgery to be spayed, she was still able to go into heat!

Yes, I know it is incredible, but it is 100% true... from a certain point of view.

I recently cleaned up all my Star Wars boxes in the basement and piled them up in a corner of our storage room. A few days later we heard some noises that we thought were coming from a neighbors house. It sounded like someone was banging something so my wife and I was curious to know what was going on.

I walked around various locations in the house looking out windows and couldn't see anything outside. I continued hearing the noise from time to time and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then I ventured outside to see if I could hear it. I could hear it very faintly inside of the garage, and that didn't make as much sense to me. I went out on the back porch and I couldn't hear it anymore, so I figured the neighbors had stopped. I went back inside and asked Michelle if she had heard it while I was out there... and she said it had been loud!

OK. Something was inside the house. I had also been downstairs lately and called Cookie but I went down into the basement and heard some more noise, but she hadn't come to me. That didn't surprise me, she sometimes hides out in strange places and goes to sleep. But now that I realized the sound was from inside the house AND that I hadn't seen Cookie lately, I ran downstairs and started looking for ways that the cat might have gotten into the heat vents. I just couldn't find any possible way. It didn't make sense.

Sense or no sense, soon our cat was at one of the upstairs heating vents. We pulled the cover out and she just sat in there for a little while. We weren't sure if she was stuck or not. Michelle thought she didn't want to come out because of a screw sticking out the side that might hurt her if she came out. I felt down inside and figured she was just scared of coming out because we don't usually let her come upstairs, and sometimes when she sneaks past us through the door to the stairs, we chase her and catch her to put her back down. So I played like I wanted her to come out and she soon did. She was pretty dusty and had some sawdust on her. Looks like the vents haven't been cleaned since the house was built... well I guess one line of the vents has now!

I still couldn't figure out how Cookie got in the heat vent. There aren't any possible vents that are open, or even within reach that she could have gotten into in the basement. Our 2-year-old had been down there playing with the cat and I thought that maybe he had done something to put her in there... like by putting her through the furnace! However, he knows not to go in the furnace room, and the door is somewhat child-proof, and the cover to the furnace is not the easiest thing to open. I kind of ruled that out. I thought that maybe the cat had went down through one of the vents upstairs when it was loose.

After putting Cookie downstairs and going away for an hour, I came back and started to hear the noise again! OK. How in the world did she get in there? I ran downstairs into 'her' room (the storage/furnace room). I quickly made noises as if I was going to feed the cat. That usually gets her running. Soon I saw her head poking out up on a wall above my office which is next door. The kids and Michelle were upstairs trying to coax her to the vent again, while I was trying to yell to them that I had found her. Eventually, I got her down.

She had jumped up on the boxes I had moved there a few days before and then up into the wall. I still don't know why there is access into the heating vent from up in that wall. It sounds like a horrible waste of energy to be heating the inside of my walls. I'm guessing that the former owner of the house who finished the basement didn't quite get that part right. So yeah! More remodeling (and money) for me later.

At least there was also a bunch of odd sized wood pieces left over from the previous owner as well, and so I stuck them up in the wall to prevent access to a kitty. We haven't had any problems in the last 4 days since I did that.

So there you go - cats can still go into heat even after being spayed.

I wonder if the Force is with me...

Ultimate? Garage Shelving

This last weekend our family drove to Boise to help my brother install shelving in his garage. We made it up there with a pretty good gas mileage for our minivan of around 23 mpg. It took us around 5 hours to get there since we stopped to get lunch at Jake's over the top and again to use the bathrooms at some Chevron. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins over the weekend and we got to finally see my brother's new house.


The shelving project itself went fairly well. My brother just bought a table saw and was planning on using it to cut through the 12 and 15 inch wide shelves. Unfortunately, that width was too big for the small table without additional cutting aids that we didn't have or have time to make. Luckily, I had brought along my new Ryobi tools. I already had a 14.4 volt Ryobi drill since around 1999, and when I asked my wife for a power tool of some kind for my birthday last year, she went and bought me the 18V circular saw thinking that the same battery I had would be interchangeable. Since the circular saw doesn't come with a battery, I went to go buy one, but found that the battery was around $30. The saw had cost about $60. So that would have been $90 for just the saw and one battery. I decided instead to buy the cordless circular saw, drill and flashlight combo because it comes with two 18V batteries and was priced at $110. So for about $20 more, I would end up with an extra drill and an extra battery, plus a flashlight and a sander by rebate for free. Pretty good deal.

My brother had a cordless screwdriver, but not as heavy duty as my cordless drills and his battery died kind of quickly for how many screws we needed to put in. It was great that I had two 18V batteries, plus my other 14.4V drill. That meant we could both have a good drill for driving screws and drilling pre-sink holes when needed. Plus we ended up cutting almost all the wood with my circular saw.

The project took us half of Saturday and most of Monday. Now he has a 6' shelf around his whole garage, plus 3', 4.5', and 7.5' shelves in certain spots and a 9' shelf in the back. He bought good brackets to mount to the wall that we could space every other stud (32") and they should hold a weight of 750 pounds for each pair. I'd say he could hang his cars from the shelves and they would just about hold.

We did pull ups from them and sat the kids on top to prove to ourselves that we are studs... I mean to prove that we screwed the shelves into the wall's studs.
I'll try and get a picture of that from my brother...

Car problems in a blizzard
Our only problem was that as we drove home through somewhat treacherous snow on Tuesday morning I noticed that the gas pedal was suddenly not doing anything, and intermitently the check engine light would come on. So I pulled the car over and opened the hood (the wind was terribly cold), and noticed that the water in the car was very low. I thought that maybe the air was cold enough to make the car not overheat, but that the water being low had caused some sort of computer in the car to trigger the car to not accelerate so that I wouldn't burn up some component. It was a guess, but not a good one. After a few more minutes, I got the car started again, and it worked intermitently again, but I was only able to get up to about 40 mph on a 75 mph freeway. I drove about three miles with my flashers on at the side of the road and then the check engine light came on steady. That's when we decided to not try to go on. We were in the middle of no-where. We were about 40 miles from Burley, Idaho and about 50 or 60 miles from Tremonton, Utah. Those were the only places around that would have a car repair shop. We called information and after a few tries got a hold of a tow company to come and get us. The said they'd pick us up in about 45 minutes.

It was somewhat difficult to stay positive with the kids in the car, but having them there made it a bit easier to put things in perspective and be glad that everything was OK, and that we were all together. The tow company was supposed to take us to the Dodge dealership and I was hoping they'd be able to fix our car by 5-o-clock so we could get home that night. We already figured we would miss our kid's singing lessons that day. The first lesson was at 4-o-clock, we still had a couple of hours to drive home and it was 2-o-clock when we broke down.

The tow truck didn't come in 45 minutes. I wondered why. Although it was snowy and windy, the road hadn't been very bad and I figured it should only take about 30 minutes to get to us. (After all, we had traveled the same 40 miles at 75 or 70mph and it didn't take too long.) An hour went by and Michelle called the company again. The driver said that he was almost to us, but he had stopped because there was an accident that happened right in front of him. Apparently the weather had gotten worse since we had stopped an hour before.

The tow truck driver finally got to us and we loaded all 5 of us into the dual bench cab and we started off. The weather was pretty bad and the driver had a problem with both of his windshield wipers because they kept getting covered by ice and not working. The driver would be talking on his radio or cellphone and roll down the window and thump the windshield wiper at the same time. I tried to stay calm and my wife did the same. I think the kids definitely were happy about going through this strange experience, although we had been happy that we would be home that day.

It turned out that it was 5:00 when we got to the repair shop. The Dodge dealership would have been closed by then, and so the guy took us to his own shop (they are probably cheaper anyway). They figured correctly that it was the fuel pump or fuel filter, but they would need to call around to get the parts. We waited an hour or so while someone took our car apart and since there was no-one around to take us to a hotel yet (the driver had left to pickup another of the many accidents that were happening because of the snow) we watched Barbie in The Princess and the Pauper with our kids. Then we watched part of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I was glad to get out of the office when we finally were able to pack up some of our stuff onto another tow truck, but kind of wanted to see the rest of the movie.

We went to the Best Western and lugged all our luggage :P into the lobby and then found out we would have to repack it into the tow truck to go around to the other side of the complex for our room. At least we had a room. It was 8:00 at night, and we hadn't eaten dinner. The hotel restaurant was excellent, but more money than we would have hoped to pay for our next two or three meals.

The next morning we slept in a bit since we hadn't went to bed until past 10:00 and had breakfast about 10:00 or 11:00 and then checked out at noon. The hotel let us keep our stuff in a backroom since we had no car to put it in yet. Then we crossed the cold and windy streets and walked about a quarter mile to WalMart. Never have we spent so much time letting the kids look at all the toys and spending as much time as they wanted. We had hours to kill, and we spent about 2 and a half of them there. Michelle kicked back in the lawn chairs (which apparently are on a really good sale during the winter.) Finally we went back across the street to the hotel and waited around another 20 minutes or so for the tow truck to come pick us up.

$589 later we were on the road home. We got home just as it was getting dark (about 6:00) and I quickly shoveled the 2" of snow off the driveway that had fallen that day so that we could pull into the driveway. It has almost never felt so good to be home!

Sabrina, the Kid Jedi

Just two days later, my brother and family came down for my sister's surprise 18th birthday. My brother came over on Saturday and we ate dinner and played Scrabble. The kids also played and Ethan showed Sabrina how to play my Jedi Lightsaber game that plugs into the TV.
.

The funniest thing happened when Sabrina tried playing the game. She would try and hold the lightsaber with two hands with one hand on the handle and the other on the blade, and then just shake her hands like crazy. As she was doing that, and getting whooped in a training match by Anakin or Obi-Wan, she said: "I wonder if the Force is with me..." in her loud and animated way. That was probably the highlight of the evening since Scrabble is a pretty slow game. We were playing it to see if Michelle would be better at that sort of game where there is less strategy involved and more brain power. We all did well, but I ended up winning.

My Princess Daughter

I have a princess daughter. She loves wearing pink or dresses and especially pink dresses. She is a drama queen. She is also a freak for doing art projects.

I don't know when it started, but it was probably around a year or two ago that Hailee decided that her favorite color was pink followed closely by red and white. I think before that it was orange or 'lellow'.

Hailee is a blessing and a trial, as are my other children, but she is a little more of one than the other, which means I have some learning to do, and I'm sure she I'll end up blessed all the way around. She whines a lot and even when she isn't really whining, she has the undertone of a whine in at least 75% of her conversation. I certainly hope that goes away with time.

In some ways, Hailee is far beyond her years. After all, she definitely is a drama queen, not a drama princess! Actually, she has a very good ability to speak clearly, and can write and think well. The problem is that most of the time, when she wants something, she will revert to talking like a baby and just utter one word: Uppy, or milk. Sometimes she won't even say anything and will just point her finger and whine a little. And yet, she memorized all thirteen Articles of Faith starting when she was three years old, and again when she was four.

Help us be repaired...

Hailee has a few other things that she says incorrectly which she can't seem to get over. They are pretty cute, so it makes it hard for us to tell her what the correct pronunication are (we tell her from time to time, but she still forgets). Since we have moved to our new home, we have been working on getting a food storage so we will be prepared in the event of an emergency or problem. Hailee has since been praying: "Help us be repaired...", rather than "Help us be prepared". In a way, you could think of us as being broken and in need of repair spiritually, but I don't think that is what she is talking about. It is still pretty cute.

Art Fanatic

Just take a look at this picture. She was painting a picture just fine and I walked away for about two minutes. This is what she looked like when I came back.
You can tell that she was wondering whether she would be in big trouble...

... but in the end it was too hard to be too mad at her. Even after washing with soap, her face was yellowish the rest of the day.

Oh, what a joyain (joy + pain)!!

Local fun - with and without Google

Last night we planned on going on 'Mommy-Daddy dates'. That means Michelled takes one or two of the kids and I take one or two, and they get their own special date. Since we have three kids, only one child gets actual one on one time, but since our youngest is only two, it still ends up being that the older child feels like they are getting almost one-on-one attention.

My son chose to use one of his free bowling coupons and go with my wife. He also had a free ice cream cone coupon. He thought that meant that they would just give you the cone, and you'd have to buy the ice cream to put on it! I guess we've taught them well to be wary of consumer advertising.

My daughter stuck with something she has done before and decided that she wanted to go get frozen custard at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. Next we went to the library to check out books, and then home to read some of the books and watch the Baby Newton DVD (from Baby Einstein) that we checked out.

Overall, the kids had a great time. I don't even remember having to argue with any of them - at all!

It didn't take Google Local to find Nielsen's, the library or the bowling alley, but it did get me closer to maybe finding a cabinet maker or woodworking shop that might be able to get me a good price on materials for my desk. I may build the desk and then add the drawers, cabinets, sides and trim later. If I bought custom sized cabinet doors, they would really make my desk look nice, and that might take care of the part that I can't do myself. I also wonder if I might not be able to find someone who could do the whole job for me. I would think that would get expensive though... we'll see.

Halloween handouts

Here's your treat for Halloween:

Vacation at Bear Lake

That's Bear Lake Utah / Idaho, not Big Bear, California.
I'm sure Big Bear in California is nice, but I've never been there, off-season or on.
So, I'm writing about Bear Lake, UT.

We discovered that our son doesn't have as much Christmas vacation as we had expected and were disappointed that we probably wouldn't be able to take the kids to see relatives in California this year. We just moved from California, and our kids would like to see Grammy and some of their friends. However, since we have less time than we thought, and we just can't bring ourselves to not be home on Christmas day, we decided to stay home this year and go somewhere else instead that is much closer.

Our son got Halloween day out of school for 'Quality Teaching Day'. I think that means that the district administrators figured out that most teachers didn't get any quality teaching done on Halloween. I wonder if there is another Quality Teaching Day on Valentines Day. So, the teachers and the school moved all of the extra activities that used to be on Halloween to the Friday before Halloween. That saves them from worrying about letting kids where costumes to school and stopping kids from wearing masks, and all the other distractions related to costumes, and chose to load the kids up on sugar before Halloween instead. My son had no less than three cup-cakes, one sugar cookie and a bunch of candy at school. Most of the treats were brought by parents who were over-anxious that their child wouldn't have any of the wonderful experiences they had when they were kids of having too much sugar so they took it upon themselves to make sure that the whole class had some. Also, as far as I know, the teacher didn't ask parents not to bring treats.

With no school on Halloween, we scheduled a family vacation to Bear Lake. TrendWest has a nice location there with a great view and nice rooms. We were suprised when we got there that everything was so nice. I had thought that it would be buildings that were built in the 70s that were simply remodeled. Instead, the buildings are only about five years old, and came with all the amenities that WorldMark TrendWest usually offers to owners... a full kitchen, a separate bedroom plus a queen-sized Murphy bed (the kind that swing down out of the wall). A washer and dryer, a separate furnace, thermostat and water heater for each unit, ironing board and iron, hair dryer, gas fireplace and a outdoor gas grill. All that plus an indoor heated pool made it really nice for a two-hour drive getaway.


Since the days are getting shorter, and since we've already switched into Daylight Savings Time, by the time we were ready to go Friday night, it was already dark and our drive up to Bear Lake through sardine and Logan canyons were fairly uneventful. We couldn't see any of the beautiful scenery going up Logan canyon, but were aware that we must be in some hill country with a stream because the road winded back and forth and would be great for a road-hugging car commercial. As we made it to the top of the mountains and could see the lights from the Bear Lake valley, we were glad that our drive was almost over. We checked in and went to bed.

In the morning we discovered it was raining off and on. That dampened our plans to take the kids to the beach sand, but it still left plenty of room for us to go swimming, play games and watch movies. I definitely don't get much time to do any of those things at home. The best experience of the whole vacation was an excellent dinner that night at a restaurant right across the parking lot from our room. There is a hotel with a large light-house building attached to it. That hotel is home to the new (and hopefully to stay) restaurant Aromas. Michelle ordered some excellent steak with crab garnish (perfectly cooked), and I had maybe the best thing I've ever had at a restaurant: Maple Pork Loin with candied walnuts. (I don't remember the actual name of the dish, but I know it was pork, and the maple with it was amazing. The yams, sweet potatoes and other vegetables with the dish were really good as well, but the maple pork... Oh wow! We were full enough to not want dessert, but I was glad that we tried their creme brulee. If you are within a few hours drive of Bear Lake, I suggest you go to Aromas restaurant to try it for yourself. During the off-season (fall and winter) the restaurant appeared to only be open for dinner. It would be worth a three hour drive if you haven't been there to try their food yourself. However, it only took two hours from Layton. We might steal away up there again sometime.

Sunday was nice. We went to the church building about a half mile down the road and had a nice meeting. Snow fell at night up on the mountains, which added to the beauty of the view around the lake. We took our kids' pumpkins with us and got to carve them just how they wanted them. We also saw a sign marking the historic Oregon trail. We got to swim again Monday morning before checking out by noon.

On our way home we saw some excellent Christmas postcard photo opportunities. We snapped a few pictures. Take a look and I think you'll agree:

Breakfast at school

My son's Elementary school is undergoing a test to see how much better kids do if they are given breakfast at school. I hope the test fails miserably.

Ethan wakes up every morning at a certain time and we give him a healthy breakfast before school. It is easy to get him out the door by 8:30 if he is awake by 7:30 without any problems. He doesn't complain about the fare, and we are really giving him some healthy stuff.

Now, here is what some of the breakfasts at school consist of:
doughnuts, bagels, muffins, and some things that are probably slightly better.

Those things aren't so bad if you have them once in a while, but to have something packed with high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated soybean oil every day is definitely not what I think the nation's kids should be forced to have for breakfast.

In most people's mind, the two common ingredients I just mentioned (corn syrup, and something hydrogenated) don't mean a lot, and they even sound somewhat healthy, right? I mean, it is corn and soybeans! Those must be good for you, right? NOT!
Most people don't know that partially hydrogenated soybean oil is the source of Trans Fat in their food.

The next time you go to the grocery store, you can again pretend like you don't know better, but once you are home putting the food in the cupboards and fridge, take a look at the labels what you bought and see if you can find one without corn syrup or something hydrogenated. Then say to yourself: "I always thought that too much of anything is a bad thing?" Well, that is what you are getting, every day.

And that is what my son's school wants to feed our kids every day. Sure, what they get there at school are probably better than what many kids might want for breakfast. Pop-tarts, cardboard waffles, orange juice, etc. They all sound fine from the surface. Only when you realize that they are usually all the same processed sugar and fat do you start to think differently.

How about some real world proof to back up my ranting: my wife lost 60 pounds just by looking at labels and cutting the amount of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil. That was pretty much all she did. She changed her mind to eat more healthy, and suddenly the exercise she was already doing started to make a difference.

Don't believe me? That's fine, but try researching it a little yourself. Also, you may not want to immediately buy in to statements the corn growers associations might say regarding the healthfulness of corn syrup (especially not high-fructose corn syrup).

Glimpsing into the window well of my soul

What do you do when you want a professional job done right? Just check off that you have all of the following:

1. The right tools for the job
2. A clean work area
   
3. Professional help

So, of course, if I want to make sure that my window well won't leak water anymore, I should get the job done by following those three tenets of quality work.

The right tools:

A clean work area:

Professional help:


So since, I had all of those important aspects of the project covered, I couldn't fail right? That depends on what you expected as the outcome.

I had two goals when I dug the window well 18 inches down next to the foundation:

1. Stop the leak into the basement by giving the window well deeper drainage. (Thus the 18 inches of additional dirt taken out.
2. Stop the leak into the basement by allowing me to pump out the water if I have to, or even stick a bucket down and heave it out if it comes to that!
   

As you can see, my main goal is to stop the leak:

So I dug the window down (with a lot of help from my Dad):

Dug it out a lot more (sorry no photo at this stage.
Started the base of my pump hole with cinder blocks and filled around it with gravel instead of dirt There are two more cinder blocks hidden from view under the pile at this stage, so that is about 2 ft down next to the foundation line:

Tested for leaks for about an hour before filling it up more:

Then I laid bricks down in a way that I hoped would allow good drainage down below the foundation:

After waiting another while to see if any water would leak in, I added more cinder blocks and more gravel:

The total height of the cinder blocks is 4 feet. I need to add some more gravel, but I'll have to buy some since that's all I have! The dirt I took out of the bottom made it quite a bit deeper.

Well, after all that, the lawn man came and fertilized the lawn. He asked me to water in the application, so I turned the water on the next morning even though I had decided not to waste any more water on our lawn this year.

So what was the result? It leaked some more.

At least I have option B still. I can pump, siphon or draw water out whenever I want. I've built my own well! That's a side benefit I didn't even think about. Wow, man.

Ain't got time to die. What is more Insectane?

I would ask, "What is more humane?", but I'm not speaking of a human. Since when is everyone expected to treat all animals the same as humans? Never, in my opinion. However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't honor and respect all of God's creations.

So that brings me to my question. If we are talking about a grasshopper, which is more insectane? Or in other words, which would be nicer to the poor creature: kill it quickly to prevent it from eating mine and my neighbor's plants and garden, or another alternative?

Here is the alternative I was faced with for the last few days.

My office is in a basement room with a window that lets in the sun. Since I'm in front of the computer for 8 hours a day, it is nice to stretch my eye muscles from time to time looking out the window. Still, I think my cat actually enjoys the sun more than I do. She lays in its warmth, and especially likes to chase reflections around the room.

The window is just at my eye level. One day last week, I heard something hit my window. I didn't know what it was and was a bit startled. At first I thought that one of the kids might have been playing outside and threw something in. Then I saw movement again out of the corner of my eye and realized that a grasshopper had jumped down and was trying to jump out. Did I get up immediately and go rescue the poor creature? Are you kidding? I'm in the middle of a large project and that would really break my train of thought. I watched the grasshopper a couple of times try to jump and hit the side of the window-well. Then my attention was focused back to my lines of code.

I didn't think of the grasshopper again that day. After a cold night where there had been frost on the lawn, I figured the grasshopper had went the way of all the world (well except for the citizens of the city of Enoch, probably Moses and Alma, Elijah, John the Revelator, and the Three Nephites to name those we know of). I looked around the rocks at the bottom of the window well and couldn't see the little guy, so I figured he might have made it. After the morning warmed somewhat, I was suprised again when the grasshopper again jumped against my windowpane. Still too busy to go outside, I kept programming, but felt a little sorry for the creature. I figured it would probably be better if I went out and stepped on it to stop the pain. Again, the insect was forgotten, and the next night again frosted the lawn. (For those of you who don't know, that means it was below 32 degrees Farenheit, or 0 degrees Celcius... it froze water, OK?) Again I searched among the stones for something green, to no avail. Again my thoughts were lost in a different world and code flowed from my brain through my fingertips onto the flashing screen in front of me. (Actually, it had to go to California where the server is, and back before it would flash on the screen, so it is pretty amazing that it all happens so fast.) When to my wondering eyes did appear but a miniature bug was hopping near. I really saw it struggling this time. It didn't seem to have much strength.

So what should I have done? I could have thought more about the little guy and put it out of its misery. Whenever it would have been time to do something about it though, I had my mind in more important things... like working when I'm supposed to be working, or spending time with my family, etc. I really don't get much time on my own to think of other things... unless I wake up early. So here I am.

So, I'll put on some shoes and do a more thorough search right now! Well, can you find the missing picture? Once again, I can't.

The moral of the story? It's not easy being green.

Layton Soccer

I've been the soccer coach this year for Ethan's team. Ethan and all the other players have grown a lot so I'm glad that I was dragged into this! Soon after our move, Michelle called to sign Ethan up for AYSO soccer. The person she talked to asked her if she would like to be the coach. Apparently our region has a lot of players, and so they doubled the number of teams this year to keep a maximum 7 players per team. Michelle volunteered - me. I was suprised by quite a lot of things with Soccer in Layton, UT. First of all I was suprised by a number of things required to be a soccer coach. Secondly, I was suprised once we started practices and games at the difference between AYSO here and where we just came from in Lakewood, CA.

To be a soccer coach for AYSO, you need to go to orientation each year, new coaches need to take a coarse on technique and rules. Also, every coach is required to take a Safe Haven course, which ensures safety and emergency preparedness practices that help protect the kids as well as the coaches. Everything from safe play and first aid to insurance and preventing law suits are covered. AYSO also checks professional and personal references not from your family. I wasn't overly suprised by these requirements, but I wasn't aware of them before I volunteered.

The biggest things that surpised me between my son's team last year in Lakewood (where I assume he was playing U-6 or under-age-six soccer) to the changes here where he has moved up to U-8 since he was 6 before the season started. The surpise is that it was a step backwards!
Instead of playing 6 players including a goalie in California, we only play 5 people total and no-one is allowed to be goalie. The biggest difference between UT soccer and California soccer was the level of participation by the parents. Parents here aren't as excited to volunteer to help out as a Team Parent, Assistant Coach or Referee. The level of support at the games is a lot less as well. I would have thought it the opposite, but the more I think of it, I can understand why. People here are so much more busy in other areas of their lives, with most parents volunteering in their church and raising more kids than in California. The fact that there are so many kids in Layton that are in soccer (21 teams just from our city at my age level) tells me that parents really want to give their kids a good experience, but when they are doing the same thing for their other kids as well, plus volunteering in other things, you get wary of signing up for anything extra. I have had one Dad who is great at being a referee.

Asking for donations gets you just as far. The AYSO coaches manual suggests getting a Team Banner. So I brought that up and asked for someone to take care of making one. In CA, a team mom would have been super excited to make a really cool flag or else all the parents would donate to have a really nice one made. I soon found out that our team was the only one that got a banner, and I've only had half of my parents donate $7 to pay for it, so I've had to cover half the cost myself. I hope the same thing doesn't happen if I have to pay extra for trophies or something.

That said, there are some things that are better in Layton soccer, the teams seem to abide more by the AYSO standards of playing to have fun, rather than yelling at your kids to try and guilt them into doing well. It seems that the coaches here are more apt to follow the five AYSO philosophies, or maybe people here are more likely to follow them, not just the coach.

Everyone Plays
Our program’s goal is for kids to play soccer—so we mandate that every player on every team must play at least half of every game.

Balanced Teams
Each year we form new teams as evenly balanced as possible—because it is fair and more fun when teams of equal ability play.

Open Registration
Our program is open to all children between 4 and 19 years of age who want to register and play soccer. Interest and enthusiasm are the only criteria for playing.

Positive Coaching
Encouragement of player effort provides for greater enjoyment by the players and ultimately leads to better-skilled and better-motivated players.

Good Sportsmanship
We strive to create a positive environment based on mutual respect rather than a win-at-all-costs attitude, and our program is designed to instill good sportsmanship in every facet of AYSO.

Only three more soccer games until the end of the season!

No Scratch doesn't prevent sitting on a Network Hub

We have a little kitten. Jaron "got her" for his 2nd birthday about a month and a half ago. We went to the shelter and let our kids look at all the cats, and we picked out "Cookie". She looks like she is some kind of suger cookie with butterscotch and chocolate, so I guess it is a good name.

Working out of a home office is nice! I really love the commute, and I find I have less distractions here. The only main distraction the last week or two has been Cookie. She scratches at the carpet outside my door to come in. It got to the point that the carpet is starting to look bad in the corner. I tried spraying her with water, which apparently is the way you are supposed to discipline cats now-days. I tried putting citrus by the spot and she seemed to ignore it. We bought a scratching toy and some other play toys for her, but really the issue is just that she wants to come in with me.

I enjoy it when she behaves. She can sit on my lap and sleep while I program. No problems there. I also got her to realize that she can sleep in her bed in my office as well, occasionally even with sun pouring through the window. She must love it.

The problem comes because I have two areas behind and between my desk that is covered with power cords and cables. I've got three networked computers and all of the accompanying cords. I don't have good cable management yet because I haven't found a desk that will work with how tall I am that will support two retractable keyboards. I want my two monitors positioned in certain places, and the keyboards to be directly in front of them. I want the keyboards to be a certain height from the ground and at a certain angle to each other so that I can swivel my chair a tiny bit and be directly in front of one or the other. I could probably use a keyboard switch for this, but that would mean that I would need to have a moveable keyboard to allow it to be directly in front of both monitors. I have drawn up precide desk plans to make my own, and can get the materials for around $100, but I'll have to spend the time to build it. As if I have Time!

So anyway, I haven't finalized my desk arrangement. That leaves me with at least two spots that I cannot allow a cat to go in my office: she can't go and play with my network hub or network cables, and she cannot go behind my tower where all the connections and power are.
I don't want her to get hurt or my computer.

So my wife went and bought "No Scratch". I think it is working for not scratching, but that doesn't do anything about wanting to sit on a network hub. (I suppose that it is warm and confortable.) I'm going to have to reorganize my office cords soon if I don't want to be driven crazy by one Crazy Cookie! Maybe I'll spend 15 minutes on it this morning.

Proud to be a Dad

Every week, and usually every day even, I find a reason that I'm proud to be a Dad.

Last night, as he often wants to do, my oldest child Ethan wanted to come into my youngest son Jaron's room to say goodnight. They are 6 and 2 respectively. Ethan acts like a father in many ways, and last night he wanted to come sing a good-night song and give Jaron a kiss. Jaron insists that he get no less than two songs, and usually the same three: Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam, I am A Child of God, and Jesus Loves Me (this I know, for the Bible tells me so). Lately Jaron has wanted at least one or two of these songs to be sang in the voice of one of his stuffed animals. He has an Elmo, a cow and a snake. Once I sang something in Elmo's voice he was hooked, and I only get away with just singing in a normal voice if Jaron forgets, or maybe he actually likes it normal sometimes.

Anyway, last night Jaron wanted Elmo to sing, so Ethan was very patient and found out what Jaron wanted, and then changed his voice to sound more like Elmo. (Thank goodness he didn't say the word 'Elmo' whenever the words are supposed to be 'I' or 'me'. I always thought that characteristic about Elmo was annoying and bad for kids. Plus that would ruin the song: "Jesus loves Elmo, this Elmo knows, for the Bible tells Elmo so" just ain't powerful.)

Ethan got done with the song, and Jaron seemed happy about it. Then they gave each other a kiss on the cheek and Ethan went off to his room. I talked to Ethan about it before he went to sleep and I could tell that he is happy I noticed and complimented him on wanting to be a good Dad. I guess I must be doing something right!